San Jose Sharks glad to be back home

SAN JOSE -- The Sharks get their second chance to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings from the Stanley Cup playoffs on Saturday night and coach Todd McLellan likes the fact his players know that home ice alone won't get it done.

"We know we have to be better," he said after his team's morning skate in preparation for Game 5. "That simple fact makes me feel good. We know we have to be better. We weren't good enough last game, we're not fooling ourselves."

That said, returning to the SAP Center where the Sharks have beaten the Kings the last five post-season games was welcomed after the 6-3 loss to Los Angeles at the Staples Center in Game 4.

"Yeah, it's awesome," Joe Pavelski said. "Me, personally, I love getting a chance to play in here, especially playoffs. That's the way this team feels, so we're excited to be back."

The Sharks won the first two games in San Jose decisively, 6-3 and 7-2. Even in Los Angels, the games were high-scoring as the teams totaled 16 goals in splitting the pair.

"I still think we're going back to that tight-checking, 3-2 type game for the rest of the series," McLellan said. "If we don't, then we'll have to deal with it as we go along."

The Sharks coach said the fact his team has had all four lines contributing offensively in this series is in marked contrast with some playoffs past.

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"We've had some years where we've had to rely on two or three players," he said. "The distribution of opportunity throughout our lineup has been as good as it's been all year. That's probably been not the biggest surprise, but the most comforting thing."

McLellan spelled out the importance of having all four lines hemming the Kings in their own zone.

"I think that you get ahead of a team sometimes just on pure fatigue and line change," he said. "If you can get ahead of them in a line change situation and wear them out in their zone, you'll end up having more shots and more scoring opportunities."

Based on drills at the morning skate, it didn't appear that there would be any lineup changes for either the Sharks or Kings.